How Eternity Brings Focus to What Really Matters: Eternal Perspective

You're listening to A New Beginning with Greg Laurie, a podcast made possible by Harvest Partners, helping people everywhere know God.

Visit our website and learn more about Harvest Partners at harvest.org. When you seek to fulfill the purpose you were created for, which is to know, glorify, and worship God, you will find the happiness you've been seeking in life. Not from seeking happiness, but from seeking God. Have you noticed how happiness and kids seem to go together? They play, they jump, they skip, they frolic.

When was the last time you froliced? We grow up, get some education, and happiness gets left behind. Author Ernest Hemingway said, happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know. Today on A New Beginning, Pastor Greg Laurie shows us we'll find real joy by seeking God and keeping an eternal perspective. The title of my message is, How Eternity Brings Focus to What Really Matters. And so we are going to be looking at Revelation chapter 4 and Colossians chapter 3.

So mark both of those and that is where we are going to land. Revelation 4 and Colossians 3. Now it is sometimes said, oh you are so heavenly minded you are no earthly good. My greater concern is that I would be so earthly minded I would be of no heavenly good. I think our belief in the afterlife has a lot to say in how we live in the before life.

How we live in the here and now. That brings us to a text that I want to look at with you that tells us what our focus as Christians ought to be. Colossians chapter 3 verses 1–2. Let's read that. That is one of the passages we turn to.

Paul writes, "'Since then you have been raised with Christ. Set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.'"

So let's ask ourselves a question. Why are we here in the first place? Why am I taking up space?

Why am I breathing air? Why do I exist? What is my purpose? To get an answer as to how I should live on earth I have to take a quick trip to heaven. Well let's do that now in Revelation 4. We are going to read verses 4–8. What we are witnessing is a heavenly worship service populated by magnificent and mysterious angelic beings and 24 unnamed elders.

Verse 8. "'The four living creatures each had six wings. They were full of eyes, around and within, and they don't rest day or night.'" These are angelic beings by the way. "'saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come. Whenever the living creatures give glory and honor, and thanks to Him who sits on the throne, who lives forever, the twenty-four elders fall down before Him who sits on the throne, and worship Him who lives forever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying, You are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power, for You created all things, and by Your will they exist and were created.'"

We will stop there. It is hard to wrap our minds around this. I don't know who the 24 elders are. Maybe 12 patriarchs from the Old Testament and the 12 apostles from the New Testament. But clearly these elders are people that once lived on earth who have died and now have gone to heaven. And what are they doing in heaven? They are worshipping.

Why is that important to us? Because Jesus said, Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is where? What happens in heaven should affect me on earth. So what is happening in heaven? Well there is a whole lot of worship going on. Thus I should also be worshipping the Lord.

They even tell us that in verse 8, You created all things and by Your will they exist and were created. So let me come back now to the question I raised earlier. Why do I exist? Why am I here on this earth? Answer. I am here on earth to bring glory to God. Let's say it out loud together. I am here on this earth to bring glory to God. There it is.

There is your marching orders. I am not here to pursue pleasure. I am here to pursue God. The purpose of the universe is God's glory.

Not my personal happiness. This comes as a surprise to some who think the world should revolve around them. That they want to rule their own little private universe. They want to be the main character in their novel. But then suffering and pain interrupts their plans and they don't know why.

Here is the bottom line. When you seek to fulfill the purpose you were created for, which is to know, glorify, and worship God, you will find the happiness you have been seeking in life. Not from seeking happiness but from seeking God. The Bible says, happy are the people whose God is the Lord.

Psalm 16 says, in His presence there is fullness of joy and on His right hand there are pleasures forevermore. Yes God created you for His glory. Isaiah 43 says, God speaking, everyone who was called by My name whom I created for My glory whom I formed in Me.

Ephesians 1 to 11 says, God chose us from the beginning for all things happened just as He decided long ago God's purpose was that we who were the first to trust in Christ should praise our glorious God. So you say, well I don't understand what that means. Does that mean that I have to be in a 24 hour worship service? You know singing songs to God is not the only way we worship.

Let me put it another way. It is entirely possible to sing songs to God and not worship at all. Worship is not just about singing.

It is about the movement of the heart to the Lord. I mean I could sing songs from the sound of music and be about as close to God as some Christians are when they sing praise songs because there is no thought of God whatsoever. Because what is worship really when we sing?

It is prayer set to song. When I am worshiping the Lord that is one way to glorify Him. But there are many other ways to glorify God. In fact I am told over in 1 Corinthians 6 19, don't you know your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you.

You were bought with a price. Therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit which are God's. 1 Corinthians 10 31 says, whatever you do do it for the glory of God. Listen. Whatever you do in life glorify God with it. Be it academics, sports, business, music, you name it.

Fill in blank here. Let me put it another way. If you can't write, hallowed be Thy name over what you are doing, then don't do it anymore. Am I glorifying God in the work that I do? Am I glorifying God in the free time that I have? Am I glorifying God in the friends that I choose to hang out with? Am I glorifying God with my time? Am I glorifying God with my money? Am I glorifying God with my existence?

Because that is why I have been put here on this earth. You know when you are doing that thing that God made you to do you can feel His pleasure can't you? It is called finding the sweet spot. If you play tennis you know there is a sweet spot in a racket.

And if you hit the sweet spot it gives you maximum impact on the ball. And we have a sweet spot in life don't we where when you do this one thing for God's glory you just say, oh man I feel His pleasure doing this because you are wired to do that thing. That is why you are here. We are all here to do that.

So I think that we should all consider how well we are fulfilling our purpose here on earth because our belief in the afterlife should inform our choices in the before life. Pastor Greg Laurie will have the second half of his message in just a moment right after a quick look at the way a new beginning touches the lives of listeners. Pastor Greg has been instrumental in my walk with the Lord. I came to Christ 11 years ago after having been an addict for 17 years. I just started hearing him on the radio.

My mom used to leave it on that station so that maybe I would hear something. Well what I heard back then is still helping me today along with all the things I have heard in between in every way in every part of my life. He has helped me and I am so grateful. Thank you Pastor Greg.

God bless you. Wow stories like that really move me. I think of this young lady as a little girl hearing our program and then she obviously made some bad choices in life becoming an addict by her own admission but coming back to the Lord. You know the Bible says if you train a child in the way that they should go they will come back to it.

They will return to it and that is what happened with this young lady and that is why it is so important to when you are driving around with your kids in your car great to listen to contemporary Christian music. Great to listen to Christian radio and can I just say really great to listen to a new beginning because the Word of God will not return void. So we are so thankful that our ministry has touched her back in her childhood and to this present day and that is why we do what we do. And we couldn't do what we do without the support of our listeners. Thanks so much for praying for us and for investing so this work can continue.

You can make a generous year end gift today at Harvest.org. And now Pastor Greg continues his message called, How Eternity Brings Focus to What Really Matters. Let's listen. Now you yourselves put these off anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth. lie one to another since you put off the old man with his deeds and have put on the new man which is renewed in knowledge." I want you to notice Paul starts with the word therefore. Whenever you see the word therefore find out what it is there for. Paul is drawing on what he has already said.

What did he say? Hey set your mind on things above. Think heaven. Pursue heaven.

Now in light of this don't pursue these other things. And he identifies three sins that keep us earthbound if you will. Three sins that keep us from being heavenly minded.

Number one. Sexual sin keeps us earthbound. Paul mentions the word fornication in verse 5.

It is from the root word porneia. This speaks of sexual immorality in general. It refers to any form of illicit sex. Extramarital sex. Premarital sex. Homosexual sex.

Let me simplify it for you. God's order for sex. One man.

One woman. Monogamous. Married. End of story.

That is it. I know that is not politically correct in this day and age to say it but it is gospel truth. But this isn't just a person who is sexually immoral but it is a person who fills their mind with this stuff. You know you might pride yourself on the fact that you don't go out and do those things. Well I have never been unfaithful to my spouse or I didn't have sex before marriage. Well great.

Fantastic. But do you fill your minds with pornography? Do you fill your minds and your lives with all this sexual stuff and fantasize about it all the time? And Jesus told us if we look at a woman to lust after her it is like committing adultery with her. So Paul is saying don't let sex control your life in this way.

Number two. Idolatry keeps us earthbound. Idolatry. He says covetousness which is idolatry. You know a lot of us don't even know what coveting is.

It made the top ten. It is one of the Ten Commandments. Thou shall not covet.

I believe that with all of my heart. You shall not covet. What does it mean to covet?

I have no idea but we should not do it. Well the Bible defines it for us. The word covet comes from two root words. To have and more. Basically to have more. It is a person who always wants more. The covetous person is never satisfied with what they have. They want what someone else has. Does that make sense? And then when they get it they don't want it anymore.

It is a thrill of the hunt. If you don't know what I am talking about just get a bunch of kids together and watch them play. I have four granddaughters and one grandson. By the way my grandson holds his own.

He hangs in there with these girls that are quite a bit older. And you know they will set up their cute little doll houses and all the accessories. And he comes in with a hammer. Now let me explain. I didn't give him a hammer. It is a plastic hammer from a little toy I gave him where you pound balls into holes you know. But he is done pounding the balls. Now he wants to pound other things.

He comes walking up with a hammer and here is all the little dolls. Bam. Bam. Bam.

Accessory is fine. And he just walks off you know. And I am looking at him going, oh yes. He is a boy. But watch how kids fight over something. One child grabs a toy. Any toy. Then the other child immediately wants that toy. Now they are fighting over the toy.

And you say, now come on you guys. There is all these toys. They are fighting over the toy.

One child usually the stronger one prevails. Gets the toy. Walks off. Looks at it for a couple minutes. Drops it on the ground and moves on. Because it was never about the toy.

It was about getting something that someone else had. I am sure glad we outgrow that. Aren't you? Don't we?

No we don't. This goes right through life for many people. And so we are being told don't let that control you. You know you can have a lot and still want more. You have so many things but I want more.

More. And some people have very little materially speaking and are completely content. Hebrews 13.5 says, let your life be without covetousness. Be content with such things as you have for He has said, I will never leave you or forsake you. Contentment does not come from what you have. It comes from who you know. And if you like David can say, the Lord is my shepherd, you will also be able to say, I shall not want.

Because your contentment is in your relationship with God. Let me turn this around. It is not always bad to want more.

I encourage you. Want more. More of Jesus. More opportunities to glorify God. More spiritual fruit. More. It is not enough. You want more. That is a good thing.

Finally number three. Anger, meanness, and slandering others keeps us earthbound. Anger, meanness, and slandering others keeps us earthbound.

Verse 8. Anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language, keep it out of your mouth. The word anger speaks of a settled and habitual anger with the thought of revenge. We all get angry at times.

We are not human if we don't. That is not what this is talking about. Oh that made me angry. This is a settled anger. This is a person that says, I don't get mad. I get even.

This is speaking of a person that has a deep-seated anger and it also speaks of a person that flies off the handle. But here is an interesting twist that you might not know from reading this translation. The word blasphemy is used. And you think yeah don't blaspheme God. Actually in context the original word that is used is not speaking of blaspheming God.

It is speaking of blaspheming or speaking ill of others. It is called gossip. And by the way our culture trades in gossip.

There are websites dedicated to the latest gossip. We hear it. We tweet it. We text it. We email it. We post it on our Facebook page. Is it true?

I don't know. But it is juicy. It is fun. Unless you are the person that is being gossiped about.

Unless you are the person being lied about. Here I have an acronym for you in this coming year. An acronym that you could use as a grid to run things through. When you hear something about someone else before you repeat it think of this acronym.

Think. T-H-I-N-K. T stands for is it truthful. H stands for is it helpful. I stands for is it inspiring. N stands for is it necessary. K stands for is it kind.

Before you repeat that information are you sure this is true? Is it going to be helpful? Is it going to inspire someone? Is it really necessary?

And is it kind? You might respond and say, well Greg if I applied that acronym to my life I wouldn't say anything. Amen.

Do us all a favor and shut up if you are spreading that kind of information. The best way to turn away from one thing is to find something better. As one old minister put it, it is the expulsive power of a new affection.

I love that phrase. The expulsive power of a new affection. Coming back to kids. You want to get a kid to let go of something you get something better. What about this.

Oh I want. And then you know you get that other thing out of their hand like the hammer or whatever. If you really start thinking more about and seeking heaven, which is to say putting the Lord first in every area from the thoughts you think to the friends you choose to the way you use your time it will transform you. Listen. You are a child of God if you are a Christian. And that means you are a citizen of heaven.

It is time to start acting like one. Why? Because life comes and goes so quickly. And before you know it you will be standing before God. But here is the good news.

If we have that expulsive power of a new affection. If we put God first in our life we will have very fulfilling lives here on earth. And then life comes to an end.

And I got to tell you something. All the health food solutions are not going to extend your life one day. You can eat your free range chicken and your organic vegetables and all the tofu your heart desires and you are going to live as long as God wants you to live. Because He appoints a day of your birth. He appoints a day of your death. And then comes eternity. And then what happens?

Listen. Heaven is not the default destination of every person. Heaven is the destination of the person who has their ticket. Say, what do you mean this ticket? I am talking about you have your reservation. You know you are going there. You put your faith in Christ. Thus you are assured you will go to heaven when you die. Well how do you get this ticket you might ask.

How much will it cost me. Oh you couldn't afford it. All the good works. All the religiosity.

All the rituals. Won't get you this ticket. This is a blood bought ticket. Bought with the blood of Christ as He hung them across and died in our place and rose again from the dead.

But you know what. He loves to give this ticket out. He loves to extend His forgiveness.

It is not like He is holding it back. He said, hey man I want you to take this ticket. It is yours. I read about somebody that just found a lottery ticket worth a lot of money.

It was just laying under a pile of leaves. I don't know what the person thought. I don't want this. And I am not advocating buying lottery tickets. It is just an illustration.

I think that is one of the biggest wastes of your money to buy lottery tickets. But that is another story for another day. But here is something of great value discarded under a pile of leaves.

And that is how the gospel is for many people. There it is. The greatest offer of all eternity.

We go oh yeah what is that. Oh who cares. I will move on. But I will tell you what. When life comes to an end you will realize that is the most important thing of all. Jesus died on the cross.

He rose again from the dead. He stands now at the door of your life. And if you will hear His voice and open the door He will come in.

If you want to know you will go to heaven when you die. If you want to walk with the confidence that you can live your life to the best of your ability for the glory of God and be ready to meet Him whenever that date is or if you have fallen away from the Lord and you want to come back to Him again I would like you to respond to this invitation. And I am going to extend as we close now in prayer. Let's all bow our heads. Father thank You for Your Word to us. Thank You for Your love for us. Now I pray for anyone here that does not yet know You. They don't have the hope of heaven but they want it.

Help them to respond now. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. And if you'd like to make a change in your relationship with the Lord, Pastor Greg Laurie will help you do that in just a moment before today's edition of A New Beginning concludes. Have you ever wondered what it would have been like to walk alongside Jesus during His earthly ministry? Listening to His conversations with Mary Magdalene and Nicodemus? The moment Jesus told Simon and Andrew to cast their nets and then they hauled in a great catch of fish?

Well, in the TV series called The Chosen you're right there with Jesus in each episode. The series has impressed so many people. In fact, Joni Eareckson-Tada said thank you for telling the old old story in such an impossibly fresh way. After Pastor Greg saw them recreate Jesus' conversation with Nicodemus, he said, wow, they got it.

It was one of his favorite episodes. And now we want to send you season one of The Chosen to thank you for your donation here at this important time of the year. Here at Harvest Ministries we're obviously committed to preaching the gospel and we believe in the power of film to reach people with that message.

That's why we're excited about making this critically acclaimed resource available on DVD. Let us send this to you to thank you for your generous donation. This is the most important time of the year for your investment. We see so much fruit through this ministry and you play a part in that. You not only give to us, you give through us to touch lives. We heard from a parent who attended our recent SoCal harvest and she wrote, tonight I've received the greatest gift.

My son gave his life to Christ right here in front of me. And you know that was able to happen because someone invested in the work of evangelism. We hope you'll make that investment. And when you do, we'll send you season one of The Chosen. You can make your donation online at harvest.org or write us at A New Beginning, Box 4000, Riverside, California 92514. Or we have a 24-hour phone number 1-800-821-3300.

That's 1-800-821-3300. Well Pastor Greg, you spoke today about having a relationship with the Lord. Yes. Someone can enter into that kind of relationship with God right now, can't they? Yeah, they really can. That's the amazing thing. I think people are surprised that it doesn't take years to become a Christian. It doesn't take months. It doesn't take weeks. It doesn't take days.

It doesn't even take hours. You can believe on the spot. And I would like to lead you in a prayer where you can ask for His forgiveness, a prayer where you can receive Jesus Christ into your life as your Savior and Lord. So if you want Christ to come into your life, if you want Him to forgive you of your sin, if you want a second chance in life, if you want to go to heaven when you die, stop what you're doing and pray after me these words. Lord Jesus, I know I am a sinner and I'm sorry for my sin and I turn from it now and I choose to follow You from this moment forward as Savior and Lord, as God and friend. Thank You for loving me and calling me and forgiving me. In Jesus' name I pray, amen.

Amen. And listen, if you have just prayed those words with Pastor Greg and meant them sincerely, the Bible assures us your sins have been forgiven, and we want to welcome you into the family of God. We want to send some resource materials that will help you in your new relationship with the Lord. We call it our New Believers' Growth Packet, and we'll send it without charge if you prayed for the first time today with Pastor Greg. Just ask for it when you write A New Beginning, Box 4000, Riverside, CA 92514. Or call 1-800-821-3300.

That's 1-800-821-3300. Or go online to harvest.org and click Know God. Well next time we'll see that Christmas time is a time of worry and fear for so many, but the message of Christmas is don't be afraid. Good encouragement is coming our way. Join us here on A New Beginning with pastor and Bible teacher Greg Lauren. A New Beginning is a podcast made possible by Harvest Partners, helping people everywhere know God. If this show has impacted your life, share your story, leave a review on your favorite podcast app, and help others find hope.